Carbonizer



De`cll, 1934. 3 R. J. HlLLsTRoM l 1,983,801

' CARBONIZER- Filed Deo. 1, v19223 COAL HOPEER fsfcom. HoPPER "M Bum/Ensn 8 /5 WATER JA cher 1Q 'fm fa /g f 45 ZZV@ FL OWCO NTlfOL vof-coal ofthe --overv the prior art are many, ,l vvof extremely simple Y PatentedDec. 11, 1934 CARBONIZER Rudolph J. vHillstrom, Marshfield Oreg.ApplicatonIDecember 1, 1928, Serial No. 323,075

' 3:*Claims.

`While Iliave designatedmy device VVas a `car- -bonizer I ydono-t ylimitits application, f orvitvmay be usedfras a'dryer for carbonaceousmaterials and vother non-carbonaceous materials,,such as sand, and-it-Inight be usedias a cooler also.

Throughout-my specifications I shall referto it as a carbonizer.

ylV Iy carbonizer `is of the vgravity feedvprogressive heating type andreadily adapted for use Uvwith, carbonaceous materialsof widelyseparated characteristics. It is particularly adaptablevto -thecarbonization o sub-bituminouscoals o-v the non-poking* type vbecausethe Ausual waste in slack may be utilized. Inrother words, forfeverytonabove; type soldan eXtra quarter ton visfmined and usually-wasted. `lli/lanyof the disadvantages of*l the use of slack in otherproc- .esses areeliminated in my carbonizer -as will -beccme apparent as I describe it.

The advantages obtained withmylcarbonizer I have, acarbonizer designandylargegcapacity coupledpwith a low first oost,` a low. maintenancecost, and a low operating cost. The-results obv` tainablefare manyand-varied andare had With- .out additional equipment. fas coal andsawdust ,and come out perfectly-mixed. vThe char may Two materials suchmay be run through ,together come from the carbonizer cooled -oivr orit. may Acorne out heated to the proper degreej-foriuse in a briquettingmachine. Oils of any desiredboiling point may be takeno .without theirybeing Y subject to higher heat `and without their being -mixedwithhotter gasesevolved at hotterfstages,

thus eliminating secondary reactions. A.L Iy f car- .bonizer lendsitself to luse in aplantofany desired capacity either in size or controlof the desired; objectives.

The carbonizer. as illustrated Yin theaccompanying drawings is adaptedfor use :inbatteries ywhich may be extendedat will without revamping. alayout. It is suchy thatany desired number of gas-collecting hoods.

I accomplish the objectsset forth above in the carboniaer whosedescription.followsand which is illustrated by the following drawing ofwhich Fig. 1 is a vertical section thru av single vthroughout theseveral views.

in y which the..v material My carbonizer` Vis one`l for ,materialsbeingtreated iiow `downwardly fby ygravittr vin a th the carbonizer`doing/are continuous ing theirdirection of lflow las they pass over.heated, inc

bafflingA surfaces.

The material to .zbyany suitable ymeans into .bonizer hopp er i Ihavelshown Yfrom. a conveyor 1,. through 3 formed as part of the ng` thelhoppers ,is`

deto meet, the conditions of nthev particular plant layout.

.Walla isf-.spaced tem. bastion .sha-mbsf: A1.1 en .f-l-cufrl tbetvallz12. `lin the ...Wall 10 of Y i; .flQmlhQW gas or vaporized oils vmay betakenoftfrom a ,L carbonizer of any capacity by regulating theA thecarbon-iger built over .,lowenfdischarge. Forpurpo this hopper is`shown. and ci carbonizeri to economica the; feedingarrangeme`ticularplant They carbon .in any suitablamanner. -bonizer isrectangularv in -and includes-the; si walls '7, only oneof w `2. ithinthis rectan `v.:arbonizing chambers. .borliznsf. Chamber .bonzna hambernlies .Qonnetwith the ,end Walls 7.

:three festas tisular fcorrection be to Conine-thepmduets.

venting. them .being treated.

Heating gases m battery formation one= carboni/Zing chamber Sis spaced11,-9v ,f the. alla ber; -tqffolm, th cor-@DUS The construct? `notshown.

n either and is merely the adaptability of my in layer from theintaleend of to the discharge end and in so ly heated and mixed by hav-Vfrequently changed lined and staggered,

be carbonized is discharged the top of the carit Vas being dischargedthe spout p 2, into the carbonizer. The no part of my The drawing showshopper 4 having .a

,se of v description only shown as'being adapted to discharge. the char,as for instance into a` briquetting machine .-.rnixen yis` no part .of.my inventio ted ,tot show llayouts.

This feature This too, like nt,is,governed by the parizermay besupported The shell of the carkhorizontal cross section dewalls 5 and-,6and two end hich appears 1n Figs. l and gularshell. are one 01 more .8.Fig. 1, Vshows one car- 8- and-Eig.

between the corrugated v`walls Q; and310;` ywhiclfi are interposedbetween and 2, two. -Each car- Awhich I space about art, in any suitablemanner, no paring shown. In- Fig.

l, the

the wall 5 to form the comd the kwall yl() is spaced the. @Ombutonchamba' shown in Fig. 2, the

frorn mingling .withvv the. material combustionchambers 11, l2

ney; or to an auxil Gr.drielzfbeing shown the atmesphere, ,onditons.thefuseio fai an, notsliown,

Within Ithe carbonizing chambers 8 oving u wardly. fpass from. the

, and 13, by way of Qtheopeningsl y14 intf the. atmosphere, into achimiary drier, neither the chimney .W hen discharging into ysometimes.warrant A'for V creating an in- I duced draft. Hot gases are suppliedby the gas burners placed within the combustion chambers 11, 12, and 13,and adjacent each corrugation 16, if desired, and so as to more directlyact upon the surface 16A, of said corrugations 16, over which thematerial being distilled passes. rlhe walls 9 and 10 forming thecarbonizing chamber 8 are made continuous from the intake end of thecarbonizer to the discharge valve 17, their connections with the hopper3 and the walls 5, 6, and 7, being made gas-tight.

The lower end of the carbonizing chamber 8 is closed by the rotarydischarge Valve 17 by which the movement of material thru thecarbonizing chamber 8 is controlled. To operate this valve 17 I haveused, per unit, a 1/2 I-I. P. motor, suitably geared and controlled. Themotor, gearing, and control, I have not shown.

It will be noted that the corrugations 16 of the wall 9 are arranged instaggered relation to the corrugations 16 of the wall 10. By thestaggered arrangement of the corrugations, I can oonstrict the throat,thru which the material being treated passes, as at the point 18 andthus form an enlarged portion 19, in which, preferably, I insert aninverted approximately V-shaped hood 20 under which the gases collectand from which they are led through the vapor and gas outlets 2l fromthe carbonizer directly to the exterior. The gases do not pass thruheated zones because the approximately V-shaped hoods 20 extend betweenand are connected to the walls 7 in any suitable manner, no particularconnection being shown. The vapor and gas outlets 21 are positioned ineither or both of the walls 7.

With the sub-bituminous coals of the Coos Bay district I find that if Imake the angle of the sides of the corrugations 16 an angle of 50degrees and leave a 11/2 space between the corrugations 16 at the point18 everything works well. I have had no trouble with the coal clogging.While this angle may be made 50 degrees with Coos Bay coals it is to beunderstood that it must always be greater than the angle of repose forthe materials being treated. For the coals mentioned I und the use oftwentyfour of the hoods 20 to be satisfactory, although I have shown alesser number in my drawing. With the twenty-four hoods 20 I get asufciently fast c-arbonizer to make char for briquetting and to recoverthe oils I wish to obtain. While I nd twenty-four satisfactory for mypurpose, the number of hoods 20 is made in accordance with the capacityof the plant and the objectives sought. I have placed the sides of theapproximately V-shaped hoods 20 parallel with the adjacent sides of thecorrugations 16 and spaced 11/2 therefrom. The sides 0f the corrugations16 are made long enough that length may be given to the sides of theapproximately V-shaped hoods 20 so that a good seal may be formed by thecoal passing through whereby gases liberated adjacent a particular hood20 may be confined therein. The cross sectional area of a hood 20 is somuch larger than that of the vapor and gas outlet 21 that the gas may betaken away from the coal at a low ve-` locity, thus materially reducingthe amount of dust drawn over with the gas. Because each hood 20 issealed from the others by the coal, it is possible to withdraw allgaseous products by suction.

Thru the intake pipes 22, water is admitted to the combustion chambers11, 12, and 13. The height to which the water may rise in the chambersis fixed by the overflow pipes 23, said overflow pipes 23 permitting acirculation of the water.

I shall now proceed to describe the operation of the carbonizer in orderto more clearly point out its many advantages and its simple operation.

We will assume that the coal is of the proper size to feed through thecarbonizer and is delivered by the conveyor 1 and discharged by thespout 2 into the hopper 3 connected with the upper ends of the walls 9and 10 forming the sides of the carbonizing chamber 8. The hopper 3 isso constructed as to allow suiiicient coal, usually several feet, toform a good seal over the top hood 20. The coal slides down in an eventhin layer over a side 16A of a corrugation 16 of the wall 9 onto a side16A of a corrugation 16 of the wall 10 and so on down over all thecorrugations 16 to the discharge valve 17. Part of the coal is deflectedby the inverted approximately V-shaped hoods 20 and passes through thesp-ace between the side 20A of said hood 20 and the side 16B of theadjacent corrugation 16. The downward movement of the coal is controlledby the discharge valve 17 at the will of the operator.

Gas stored from a previous run is fed to the lower burners 15 to startthe operation. After gas begins to form in the carbonizer it is fed tothe burners 15 so that the carbonizer supplies its own fuel for heatingthe walls 9 and 10 enclosing with the end walls 7 the carbonizingchamber 8. If it were desired these walls might be heated by electricgrids or heat might be generated and delivered to the combustionchambers 11, 12, and 13, at a point above the overflow pipes 23 from agas-fired extended nre box. I have only illustrated the gas burners,these being the preferred means to supply heat to the walls 9 and 10.Thru their use heat may be localized at desired points. Regardless ofthe method employed the heat travels upwardly and progressively heatsthe coal moving downward over the heated surfaces of the corrugations 16of the walls 9 and 10 forming sides of the carbonizing chamber 8.Naturally the coal becomes hotter as it gets toward the discharge end.Moisture and the lighter oils start to distill over from the coal towardthe top, filtering out through the moving coal and into the adjacentapproximately V-shaped hoods, and those of a higher boiling temperaturein a similar manner lower down where they collect and from which theyare led through the vapor and gas outlets 21 for further processing inother devices not a part of this invention. There is no dilution ofgases from the heating medium nor from those of a higher temperature. Asthe coal reaches the corrugations 16 below the overflow pipes 23 it iscooled by the water in the lower portions of the chambers 11, 12, and13. Whether it is desirable to cool the char depends entirely upon theobjectives sought. Thru the control of the rotary valve 17 and thenumber of gas burners 15 put in operation, the rate and degree ofcarbonization may be readily controlled.

From the above description and from a perusal of the drawing, it will beseen that I have perfected a carbonizer of extreme simplicity both infirst cost, maintenance, and operation; one in which the coal constantlymixes itself as it moves downwardly by gravity in such a thin uniformlayer as will absorb the maximum heat from the corrugated walls of thecarbonizing chamber; one

in which the only moving element is the small rotary char-dischargingvalve 17; one in which the coal is progressively heated; one in whichvaporized oil, for instance, vdistilling in a narrow boiling range isliberated and kept from dilution with other oils ci different boilingpoints; and one in which this ractionating :feature may be controlledfor the objectives sought.

Having described my invention and illustrated it so clearly that anyoneskilled in the art of low temperature carbonization or coal or othercarbcnaceous substances might build an operable plant, I claim:

l. In a carbonizing apparatus, in combination:

a vertical shell having a carbonizing chambery therein, said carbonizingchamber having a plurality of alternate expanded and contractedportions; V-shaped hoods within the expanded portionsv adapted to changethe direction of flow of l passing through the carbonizing chamber; Jorand gas oitakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the topportion of the shell d adapted to admit coal to the carbonizing 1oer; awater jacket externally attached to ver portion of the carbonizingchamber for cwmog the carbonized residue; flow-control means "in thelower portion of the shell for withdrawing the cooled carbonizedresidue; and

burners located within the shell adjacent the contracted portions or thecarbonizing chamber.

2. A carbonizer unit comprising a vertical shell; two corrugated Wallsset in staggered arrangement positioned within the shell and extendingbetween opposite shell walls and spaced apart and each spaced fromadjacent shell walls and forming a centrally positioned carbonizingchamber and flanking combustion chambers, said carbonizing chamberhaving a plurality of alternate expanded and contracted portions;V-shaped hoods within the expanded portions adapted to change thedirection of flow of coal passing through the carbonizing chamber; vaporand gas offtakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the upperends of the corrugated walls and adapted to admit coal to thecarbonizing chamber; flow control means in the lower portion of theshell for withdrawing carbonized residue; and burners located within thecombustion chambers adjacent the contracted portions of the carbonizingchamber.

3. A carbonizer unit comprising a vertical shell; two corrugated wallsset in staggered arrangement positioned within the shell and extendingbetween opposite shell walls and spaced apart and each spaced from theadjacent shell walls and forming a centrally positioned carbonizingchamber and flanking combustion chambers, said carbonizing chamberhaving a plurality of alternate expanded and contracted portions;V-shaped hoods within the expanded portions adapted to change thedirection of flow of coal passing through the carbonizing chamber; vaporand gas offtakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the upperends of the corrugated walls and adapted to admit coal to thecarbonizing chamber; a water jacket, occupying the lower portion of thecombustion chambers, for cooling the carbonized residue;

flow-control means in the lower portion of the shell for withdrawing thecooled carbonized residue; and burners located within the combustionchambers above the portion containing the cooling water and adjacent thecontracted portions of the carbonizing chamber.

RUDOLPH J. HILLSTROM.

